UNION COUNTY, N.C. — The extreme drought is causing major concern for wheat farmers in Union County. One grower told Channel 9’s Michelle Alfini if rain doesn’t fall this week, his entire crop could be at risk.
Wheat usually thrives in dry weather, but this year, Union County farmers say it got too dry and too hot, too early.
“This wheat should be waist high on me right now. You’re looking at it knee high,” Drew Medlin said.
Medlin said he’s never seen a drought to this extent so early in the year. He said the hot and dry conditions are coming at the worst time for the wheat crop — when it’s typically putting on its grain. Medlin says this process requires water to build up before harvest.
“We’re concerned the quality’s not going to be there,” he said. “We can already see the yield is not gonna be there. We can already look out at the field and see that.”
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Medlin said an inch or two or rain is needed as soon as possible to save his harvest. If they don’t get it soon, wheat won’t be the only crop that suffers.
“We planted about half of our corn, and we had to stop,” he said. “We can’t get our corn in the ground. We can’t penetrate into the soil.”
Wheat is the first crop that goes to harvest and usually sets the tone for the year, but between poor weather and high diesel and fertilizer prices, Medlin says farmers like him are wondering if they’ll make it through the rest of the year without help.
“We want to make the money off the market and off our crops, but sometimes that’s the only way you can survive is through programs,” he said.
For now, Medlin is hoping for some clouds ahead. Farmers say it could mean the difference between getting wheat good enough to sell for flour or pasta or getting a poor crop that sells for animal feed.
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